The invention pertains to security devices employing flexible cable to lock one or more articles, such as skis or a sailboard in mounted position upon an automobile roof rack.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,132,780 discloses a roof-mounted rack wherein spaced legs connect the ends of a spacer bar and are engageable to rain gutters on opposite sides of an automobile, and ski-clamping wing arms are centrally hinged to the bar. At the distal end of each clamping arm is a channel-shaped latch which contains means for selectively clamping a short length of flexible cable for such offset from a fixed stop button at the cable end as to enable the cable to pass between a door and its lintel so that the stop button will be blocked when the door is closed, thus preventing unauthorized release of the latch as long as the closed door is locked. The cables thus only hold the latches in down position, and the cables have no engaged or engageable relation to articles mounted to the roof rack.
Canadian Pat. No. 1,149,348 discloses an article-securing system for a roof-rack supported article, wherein a single flexible cable extends between stop members adjustably securable near the respective ends of the cable; the adjusted length of the cable is so selected that the cable ends are retained by closed doors at both sides of the car, while at the same time tying down the supported article. A resetting of cable passage through plural bores in one of the stop members is necessary for any change in effective cable length between the two stop members. And no part of the cable assembly is specifically related to the roof rack.